


Tabot

by BlueLight333



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 02:42:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7783624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLight333/pseuds/BlueLight333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amnesia can be a bitch. </p><p>Especially when you have nothing but a short video from your past self to guide you. </p><p>Such is the reality for Tabot as he wakes up in a strange city, in an empty apartment with nothing but his clothes, a laptop and a gun in sight. </p><p>He does his best to maintain a low profile as the video ordered but trouble never stays away too long and eventually the past comes knocking.</p><p>Will Tabot choose to tumble back down into his history or cling desperately to his new life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shut In

Have you ever woken up from a dream so vivid that you had trouble remembering the reality around you when you woke up?

Imagine for a second that feeling but without your memories running back to you.

That is what I felt as I woke up on that cold, stiff matrass, my head felt as though it was wrapped in cotton and I found myself gasping for air.

 “ _They’re coming! Deep breath, Three, two, ONE-!”_ I briefly remembered someone shouting at me, I remembered panic, an inevitable doom closing in.

And then it faded, like a dream being lost upon waking up. I sat up, the sudden strain on my abdomen made it apparent that I was quite sick to my stomach. Looking around I saw merely a desk, upon which sat a laptop and a chair on top of which lay a neatly folded set of clothing and a pistol, a strange combination to say the least. The room I was in appeared to be a gutted apartment. I decided I had enough of laying around so I stood up and winced as my head let out a sharp burst of pain.

“ _Lay down cover fire, we have to get him to the wipe room!”_ The pain brought a blurry scene of running and shouting through my mind, I head gun chatter behind me, I had to get through that corridor no matter what.

And once more, it faded. I slammed the wall in frustration with my fist, I couldn’t even clearly recall what I looked like, these snippets of running and panic did nothing to help me remember. I looked down and saw that I was naked, I tried assembling what I could physically see about myself; I was fair skinned, male, fit, I had quite a few scars on my torso and arms, some were circular and others were strange, deep lines and my hair was dark brown, well trimmed with a long top and short sides. Not a lot to go on. I walked over to the desk and put on the clothes. The clothes were nothing remarkable, a simple white shirt and blue jeans inside the pockets of which I found a silver ring with strange etchings, a phone with no passcode or information on it, a wallet with a significant sum of money, Canadian by the looks of it and several bank cards, and a small pocket knife the blade of which can’t have been more than 4 inches.

I sat down and opened the laptop, the screen was off and served as a mirror, I had a strong jawline, a slightly bent nose that had clearly been broken at some point, dark blue eyes and a scar running from just above my right eyebrow down to about halfway down my chin. _So many scars, what kind of life must I have led?_ I thought to myself as I brought the laptop out of sleep mode, the screen showed… me, but I looked tired and haggard, I was dressed in black tactical gear and behind me lay a rack containing countless black assault rifles. I clicked play.

“Hello… Me, hah, feels weird to say that, if all has gone to plan you don’t remember making this recording or well… Much of anything.” Said the tired version of me, his- my voice was crackly and low, exhausted and sad, whatever happened before I had recorded the video had clearly broken me.

“Your name is Tabot Anderson, commonly called Tab, you are 17 years old as of now and your birthday is June the 22nd.” Continued the video, Tabot, at least I had an interesting name.

“It’s better for you and the people around you that you don’t know your past, there was nothing I could do to erase your skills or that damned power, you’ll discover them eventually… What else do you need to know? Um, I guess you don’t have any allergies so thank god for that.” Said the past version of me with a chuckle. He prattled off a few more things like blood type before his tone suddenly became grave again.

“Now this is the bit you need to listen carefully to, I managed to set you up with a… well quite a bit of money so you should be OK, and the school year is just starting so I was able to rig you into the local school. DO NOT stand out, avoid public attention like the plague, stay off government radar and most importantly do not get attached to anyone. Because if you do… they’re in danger, now, as to where you are.” He said with his tone lightening up a bit.

“If all has gone right you have woken up in the fine city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and no you’re not Canadian, that’s just where I managed to put you. The pistol near you is a Glock 19, 9mm, unfortunately the Canadian police isn’t too keen on minors walking around with firearms so that doesn’t leave the apartment, if you’re in a pinch you’ll find yourself quite handy with that switchblade in your pocket. Anything you need to know, your school name and location, your bank info, oh, and your “parents” background story can be found on this laptop.” He continued, I had clearly planned this very well.

“And finally that ring… Only put it on when there’s no alternative, when you’re cornered and outnumbered, it’ll bring back your power into overdrive but it’ll also send some very powerful people with a grudge back onto your trail so I suggest keeping that ring tucked away.” He continued, I heard someone in the background of the video shout my name.

“I have to go, it’s almost show time, you have to be at school in about 40 minutes or so depending on how long it took you to open the laptop, good luck.” And with that the video cut off.

After some frantic digging on the laptop I found the school’s location, I also found that my wallet contained a driver’s license so I presumed driving was one of the skills past me couldn’t wipe. I found the keys to some sort of Jeep on the counter near the front door with what appeared to be house keys next to them, I grabbed both and ran out the door. I didn’t have time to take in the scenery beyond the fact that it was raining.

I frantically clicked the keys set until a black Jeep Cherokee flashed its lights. It looked brand new, past me wasn’t kidding about the significant sum of money, and thankfully soon as I got behind the wheel I remembered the basics of driving. The streets were difficult to navigate but eventually I found myself parking at the student lot behind the school. The crowd of people surging in made me nervous, I remembered past me instructing me to steer clear of public attention.

I had no memories, no identity an unknown set of skills and nobody to help me out.

Yeah, why not go to school?

The school itself looked modern and imposing, thick steel beams supported a portion of the mostly concrete building, large, blue letters spelled out the school’s name; RIVERMOUTH SECONDARY SCHOOL **.** Thankfully I could get away with acting confused as I was a new student, the map on the pamphlet near the entrance was no help so I approached a girl leaning against a locker, phone in hand.

She had long, curly wavy black hair and wore a simple black dress that stopped just below the knee.

“Um, hi, stupid question I know but how do I find room 140?” I asked, doing my best to put on a friendly smile. She looked up from her phone, the first things that struck me were her startling green eyes. She smiled back and put her phone in her bag.

“I’m actually supposed to be at that class too but trust me, you’re not missing anything, like are your parents cool or are they super strict?” She asked, considering the fact that my parents were likely dead I chuckled.

“Oh they’re total pushovers, why?” I asked, I noticed that she had a small glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

“Well I was gonna skip and just wait for my friends but… I figure you need someone to show you around.” She said with a little _may as well_ shrug. I smiled a bit wider, I never thought making friends was this easy.

“Sounds good, Tabot, by the way.” I said stretching out my hand.

“Natalie.” She said shaking my hand.

She then proceeded to show me where everything was, ducking the hall monitors with remarkable skill. When the tour had ended she decided to show me the outside grounds. I found it remarkable how quickly the weather had changed, it was now totally clear and sunny, a mere half hour ago it was absolutely miserable.

“So, where are you from?” She asked, my heart jumped, as prepared as past me was he skipped quite a few of the vital details.

“Oh… all over the place really.” I said trying to keep my voice level. She stopped walking and looked at me intently.

“What?” I asked looking myself up and down for stains.

“Yenno, we’ve been talking for a good 40 minutes and you told me… Well just your name basically, do you have a criminal record or something?” She asked intently, I understood why she wanted to know but the only answers I could give would be lies.

“No I just… don’t have a very interesting past, yenno, just your standard boring shit, kind of a shut in.” I replied with a shrug. She shook her head.

“You’ve got quite the scar collection for a shut in.” She said with a chuckle, resuming her walk.

“I’m a clumsy shut in.” I responded. I was about to ask about the statue in front of the entrance when I heard someone shout from the parking lot.

“Nat!” Yelled a rough male voice, I turned and saw a large, messily dressed guy about our age walk over.

“Oh god, listen, you don’t need to be near me right now, for your own sake…” She began, now I had not known her very long but at this point in time she was literally my oldest friend, I wasn’t about to leave her with that brute. So despite her protests I remained firmly at her side until he was within talking distance.

“Hey Nat, miss me?” He asked, his features were handsome but his manner and dress was lazy and reeked of arrogance.

“No Jake, I told you to leave me alone.” Replied Natalie in a half annoyed, half scared tone.

“And who’s this? Your new boyfriend?” He asked only sparing me a wave of the hand, this set me off.

“No, I just met him, and so what if he was? We aren’t dating anymore Jake, just leave me alone OK?” She asked with a hint of exasperation in her voice. This guy clearly wasn’t taking the hint gently, lets hope fighting was a skill I had in my arsenal.

“Listen mate, the lady asked you nicely to leave her alone, and next time I’d appreciate you not pointing at me, it’s very rude.” I said taking a step forward. He laughed, indeed the situation seemed comical, I was fit but he towered several inches over me.

“Look at this clown, why don’t you just fuck off little man?” He said trying to face me down, but something in my gut told me I had fought bigger and meaner by far.

“Tabot, come on he’s not worth it…” Began Natalie but I had no intention of backing down. Clearly the brute had enough posturing and took a swing.

Time seemed to freeze, instantly I remembered hundreds of techniques ranging from painful to lethal to throw at him. I decided to go easy with just a warning. I caught his arm before it made contact and twisted it, following it up with a savage strike to the throat. He staggered back, coughing and grasping his arm.

“Just walk away Jake.” I said in a surprisingly relaxed tone, my stance was firm and my posture was hunched, I had clearly done this before. He roared and charge at me again.

I waited until he was just a foot away before leaping aside and putting my foot out in front of is, sending him flying face first into the grass. I decided he needed a little show of force.

Before he had a chance to get up I walked over and placed by foot on the back of his head.

“I want you to remember this Jake, this nice soft ground, the next time you bother me or Natalie over there I’ll bury you in it, understood?” I asked in a calm and balanced tone, he did his best to nod.

“Good boy.” I said lifting my foot off and walking over to Natalie. She seemed both shocked and maybe a little impressed.

“Shut in huh?” She asked with a chuckle.

“Something like that.” I replied.


	2. Stationary Management

“So where’d you learn the fancy moves, shut in?” Asked Natalie from the passenger seat. I decided to give her a quick lift home as I had nothing better to do. I chuckled at the question, I figured it’s best to try and be honest.

“Not sure really.” I said sparing her a quick glace as we hit a red light, she was smiling but also peering at me as though she was trying to solve a riddle.

“Yenno one day you’re gonna open up to me, you can’t duck my questions forever. Stop here.” She said pointing to the side of the road, I obliged but made my confusion about the stop known.

“I uh, don’t see any houses here Nat.” I said turning off the car.

“But you do see a sushi place don’t you? Come on, you gotta at least know what sushi you like.” She said opening the door and stepping out, I sighed and followed suit. The restaurant wasn’t much, a few sparsely populated tables and a single wooden bar where the food was prepared. We were greeted by a tired looking waitress and were directed to a table by the window. Something clicked within me when we sat down, it felt almost familiar, single table, one person across.

“So tell me, what do your parents do?” She asked with a challenging smirk, but that something inside me grew and I myself put on a smile of confidence.

“You’ve been asking questions all day, it’s my turn.” I said quickly looking her up and down, taking in little details I just now started to put together.

“Judging by your clothes and the new phone your family definitely isn’t poor, but judging by your choice of boyfriend you don’t like the safe life, so my question is what makes you so bored? And also why would you choose to spend and entire day with me, a total stranger, going as far as to get into my car.” I said with a fast and confident tone, her smile faded a little.

“Is interrogating another skill you learn as a shut in?” She asked trying to shift the conversation.

“Even a shut in can tell when you’re trying to evade a question.” I replied calmly looking up from my menu.

“Yeah, it’s annoying when someone does that isn’t it?” She asked with a sly tone, clearly she wasn’t going to answer.

The rest of the meal wasn’t particularly eventful, we talked about the mundane, she told me which classes to head to tomorrow, I made up a few stories about myself and then stood up to walk her back to the car.

As we were about to leave the chef said a goodbye in Japanese.

“Thank you, have a good day.” I replied, Natalie’s jaw dropped.

“What? You’re staring at me again.” I said uncomfortably.

“Where did you learn Japanese?” She asked, clearly stunned. I hadn’t even noticed that I replied back in the language, I really wished past me was more specific about my skills.

“I had… a few Japanese friends in kindergarten, I learned the basics.” I answered, lying with surprising fluidity.

The drive to her home concluded just as it started to rain again. Her house was impressive to say the least, three floors and a large, well kept garden towered before me as I pulled up beside it.

“Thanks for the ride.” She said, but she didn’t leave just yet. Instead she looked at me intently, like she was making a decision.

“Natalie, you’re staring again.” I said with a light chuckle. She pulled a small slip of paper from her bag and a pen, she proceeded to scribble a few digits on them.

“Shoot me a text some time.” She said, and with that she walked out of the car.

I pulled out the maps feature on my phone and started following its directions home. On the drive I tried to take inventory of the day, the only day in my memory. In my first day I managed to make one friend and one rather large enemy, found out I speak at least two languages and that I was definitely well trained by someone.

I reached the door of my abode and opened it, upon stepping inside I realized I needed to get some furniture ASAP, but for now the mat will do, tearing off my shoes I collapsed down onto the stiff “bed”, somehow I was absolutely exhausted.

I awoke what seemed like seconds later, I was definitely having a horrible nightmare but I couldn’t remember what it was.

_THUMP!_

That was the sound the mat made when I fell back onto it, I had been hovering at least 6 feet above it. I jumped to my feet in shock, backing up from the mat like it was on fire, after calming down a bit I sat on the only chair in the room, I saw that not even an hour had passed, the sun was just beginning to set outside the window.

I decided I wasn’t gonna get any rest anyway so I explored my new home, I found 3 extra rooms, a good sized kitchen and two bathrooms, a pretty sweet setup for a teenager. The closet in room two was full of clothes, which was wonderful, I didn’t take myself for the clothes shopping type. Everything was new, shirts with the labels still on them, pants with tags still attached, even what appeared to be a tailored black suit and tie in its protective sleeve. Nothing was even remotely aged, the only thing I had that seemed to be from my past life was the ring but I swore to never put it on. After a quick shower I decided to see if the handgun would help me remember.

Picking it up I instinctively took out the magazine and checked the chamber, my hands moving before my mind, within seconds I had taken it apart, I dropped it as if it had burned me, it was like muscle memory, the main spring rolled a little after the impact with the table. During the house search I found 3 spare magazines in every room, whatever threat past me was expecting he wanted me to be prepared.

After hastily reassembling the weapon I opened up the laptop, I learned the fake story with my parents, the detail going as far as saying why they were never seen in public, bank information for several accounts, all of which had a very impressive sum, if I was careful I could be set for life.

Everything was listed there, my entire fake history, but nothing about the human part of me, what music I liked, what movies I hated, my favourite colour even, nothing. I decided that I’d have to figure those things out myself, I absentmindedly picked up my phone and texted Natalie’s number.

 ** _Hey, weird question but what kind of music do you like? This is Tabot by the way._** I texted, maybe I’d see if we had matching tastes. Her reply was almost instant.

 ** _I personally like slower, more vocal guitar songs, you?_** She asked, I laughed

 ** _Lol let’s find out_** I sent back. I woke up the laptop and searched what she had described, I didn’t like everything I found but a few songs were rather nice. I continued texting her back and forth, asking mundane questions until she sent something that threw me off.

 ** _Don’t you ever wish you could just like… Forget your whole life?_** She asked, my heart jumped.

 ** _Hahaha, not sure I can relate there_** I replied, I wanted to be honest with her but she’d never believe me and like past me said, don’t let anyone close.

The conversation tapered out eventually and we bade each other good night, the first day of my life had concluded. I lay myself down on the “bed”, once again swearing to get more furniture tomorrow.

There is something infinitely comforting about routine, I woke up, once again floating and once again from a nightmare, washed up, checked my gun, and something compelled me to do push-ups, like an old habit I can’t remember, I stopped at 150, impressive. I sighed before stepping into my car, recalling what Natalie said my first class was history, let’s see if that’s a skill I retained I remember thinking.

Sitting in the small plastic chair I took inventory of the room, the class was split more heavily with girls than boys, the teacher seemed outstandingly bored and disinterested.

“OK class, settle down, the sooner we start the sooner we finish yes?” Said the teacher tapping his knuckles on the podium at the front of the room, the conversation among the students died off.

“I am Mr. Jackson, or Mr. J, and welcome to history 12... I guess, you’ll be learning everything from the in and out of medieval Europe and the entirely unnecessary and baseless communist revolution that plagued Russia after the first World War- “He began with his monologue but some devil within me snorted.

“Did I say something funny Mr…” He began looking at the seating plan but I cut him off, my mouth moving before my mind.

“Anderson, and yes, you’ve said the best joke I’ve heard all day, baseless? Come now, even a five-year-old knows the revolutions- oh by the way there was more than one so that’s another thing you need to brush up on, only gained so much public traction because the Tsar was running the country dry with a war effort most people neither supported nor agreed with.” I said with an almost arrogantly confident tone.

“Oh I’m sorry, would you like to describe the political atmosphere in early post war Russia?” He asked sarcastically, stepping aside and gesturing for me to take his place, the demon within me had now grown.

“I thought you’d never ask.” I replied standing up and assuming the place in front of the podium, he laughed and leaned against his desk.

“You see, class, as you’ll remember from last year the Russian Empire was drawn into the first World War by its alliances with France and Serbia but as the casualties grew and the food supplies dwindled the public support faded. And that is when a handsome chap named Lenin stepped in.” I said begging a speech I wasn’t even fully choosing the words for, the facts simply spilled from my lips.

“The reason communism gained so much traction with the lower classes was because they were frankly just about to tell the aristocracy to sod off with taking their grain for themselves as their own children starved. And communism promised to end any such bondage of classes- “I continued but the teacher, red faced with anger and defeat cut me off.

“Allright, very well I get your point.” He said standing up, I mocked disappointment.

“But sir, I just got started.” I replied, this sent a wave of laughter through the class, with a smug smile I took my seat again. I allowed the teacher to continue droning on in the background as I allowed the sock of the situation to set in. Sometime during my third panic attack I noticed a guy just to my right shooting glances at me, this only made me more uncomfortable.

The clock said that there were only 20 minutes left to the class when suddenly I felt something within me. The panic, and the discomfort of the staring triggered something and I noticed something moving behind he teacher.

A pen had lifted itself from his desk and was now hovering a lazy circle around his head, the class gasped as they saw this. The display only scared me even more so I just wished the pen would stop floating…

And just as that thought entered my mind it hit the floor.

Curious now, I willed it to rise again, it obeyed, I darted my eyes left, the pen zoomed to follow. The teacher tried to calm the class but many of them had started pulling out their phones.

 _“Avoid public attention.”_ I heard past me chime in the back of my head. I instantly willed the pen to drop just as the first phone switched on.

Thankfully nobody connected my eye movements and the pen in any way, as they presumed I was merely following it and not the other way around.

I wondered… How big could I go?


End file.
